Hiking Georgia: A Guide to Georgia's Greatest Hiking Adventures

In a state with such varied geography as Georgia, plenty of good hiking can be found. This guide will go a long way toward helping you find the best hiking Georgia has to offer. From Chickamauga Battlefield near Chattanooga to Cumberland Island Seashore in the southeast, this guide describes 83 hiking destinations in Georgia. The distribution is fairly even throughout the state, though the north Georgia mountains carry a slightly higher weight, mainly due to Chattahoochee National Forest. Hikes range in difficulty from a 0.5 mile boardwalk stroll through Okefenokee Swamp to a rugged 13.7 mile hike on the Coosa Backcountry trail. People of all abilities will find suitable hikes in this book. Each hike features a thorough and well-written overview, directions to the trailhead, a bare-bones but adequate trail map, and a written description of the trail. The trail descriptions vary quite a bit in quality with some descriptions lacking details to really make the hike come alive. Overall, however, the descriptions are informative and rather good. In addition to the 83 hiking destinations, the author describes 6 longer trails (such as the Appalachian Trail) in a short section near the end of the book. While the descriptions found in this book are not sufficient if you are planning an extended backpack trip, they do provide a good introduction to the longer trails and suggest some nice day-hiking loops. Perhaps the greatest drawback with this guide is it's over reliance on trails located on state and federal lands. Indeed, every hike in this book except one describes a national forest, national park, national seashore, state park, or state wildlife area. While any comprehensive guide would rely heavily on these areas, this author seems to ignore the fact that many fine hiking experiences await on trails that do not fall into any of these categories. For example, here in Athens we have the Georgia Botanical Garden, Oconee Forest Park (operated by University of Georgia), and Sandy Creek Nature Center (operated by Athens-Clarke County). A more obvious omission is Stone Mountain Park, which features a fine 6.2 mile trail around the mountain, one of the best trails in the state, in my opinion. While lists and brief descriptions of state and federal trails can be found on the web, guides like this can serve to highlight some lesser-known hiking destinations that are not as easily found. This guide doesn't take that opportunity. In summary, while the lack of variety in lands is enough to dock this guide a star, this is still the most comprehensive guide to hiking the entire state available on the market right now. Thus, if you are interested in hiking in the Peach State, this guide should probably find a place on your bookshelf.